The theme for this month is the importance of humor and celebration. I hope to make the case that with them at work and home, life is more livable and you will be more fun to be around. This first Coaching Connection for September hopefully will set the tone and challenge you to consider exercising your funny bone at work, at home and in all you do. Having a sense of humor and a willingness to celebrate life are powerful tools when used well and wisely. Here are several of my favorite quotes that have gotten my attention over the years. Consider them as you weigh in on the topic of humor and celebration with me.

“Humor has a way of bringing people together. It unites people. In fact, I’m rather serious when I suggest that someone should plant a few whoopee cushions in the United Nations.” ~ Ron Dentinger

“The kind of humor I like is the thing that makes me laugh for five seconds and think for ten minutes.” ~ William Davis

“There is more logic in humor than in anything else. Because, you see, humor is truth.” ~ Victor Borge, London Times, 3 January 1984

“Above all else: go out with a sense of humor. It is needed armor. Joy in one’s heart and some laughter on one’s lips is a sign that the person down deep has a pretty good grasp of life.” ~ Hugh Sidey

“Humor is a rubber sword – it allows you to make a point without drawing blood.” ~ Mary Hirsch

“Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.” ~ William James

“In a World where people are surrounded by darkness, ignorance and fear, it is a sign of hope to be celebrating a message of peace and light, and the last great Messenger, born and chosen to deliver them to all mankind.” ~ Cat Stevens

“Put yourself in a state of mind where you say to yourself, “Here is an opportunity for you to celebrate like never before, my own power, my own ability to get myself to do whatever is necessary.” ~ Anthony Robbins

“Celebrate what you want to see more of.” ~ Thomas J. Peters

“People often resist change for reasons that make good sense to them, if those reasons don’t correspond to organizational goals. So it is crucial to recognize, reward, and celebrate accomplishments.” ~ Rosabeth Moss Kanter

There you are some food for thought. I hope you chew the thoughts well and consider not as fluff and fuzzy thoughts. If you do well then perhaps you need to be “goosed” a bit. Humor is a powerful engine that energizes the troops, softens the blow, lightens the moment and gives momentum to the task that needs to be done.

When is the last time you made a telephone call either for business or for personal reasons and talked to a “real human being” right off the bat? Why am I asking this question? The reason is frustration, disbelief, being treated downright rudely and a feeling of being abused by the use of voicemail.

I don’t know about you, but it seems that too many people over use and abuse the technology of voice mail in their professional lives. If I have heard the message, “I am sorry I can’t take your call right now, but your call is important to me so please leave a message and I will get back to you, (a) as soon as I can, (b) whenever I get around to it (c) when hell freezes over (d) when my hunchback brother Benny straightens up.” The sarcasm is mine obviously but the feeling that prompts the sarcasm is real. Why? Because my recent experience is that eight out of ten people don’t return calls. It is maddening. If they don’t want to talk just say so. Don’t waste people’s time.

More importantly, wouldn’t it be a better business practice to talk to prospective customers/clients as opposed to sending them to voicemail hell. Talking to a real live human being in 2013 appears to be a novel idea. What is meant to be a time saver is actually a time waster, in my opinion, especially for the caller. What is happening? Are the machines faulty and not delivering the message? Is it that the person gets overwhelmed by so many messages they just give up on returning the calls? Or, is voicemail the new “gatekeeper” only in robot form?

I believe it is time for business people to grow up and answer the phone or have someone do it for them. Or here is a good idea, return the call you say is “so important.” I believe doing so will improve your bottom line and lower the blood pressure of all those waiting and waiting and waiting for you to call them back. You will be surprised how powerful a real human voice can be.

It seems to me as we manage people we are in fact creating a social network of sorts at work. The purpose of networking in order to better manage people should be to transmit positive, desirable and productive outcomes for the individuals as well as the organization. To a certain extent a leader must be prepared to deal with the usual transmission of bad behaviors that are common in the workplace as well. They are merely the side effects that managing people produces. We must endure them in order to reap the real benefits of genuine and authentic people management. These downside effects seem to have been grafted into the fiber of the basic employee-management relationship in most every workplace. If a leader can get past the bad behavior, stay the course and stay on the message of the Vision, Mission and Core Values that are at the heart of the organization, the negativity will dissipate and the genuine goodness of people will be forthcoming. We truly gain more than we lose by believing in the goodness of people, our employees.

Once a solid work network is established, I believe a degree of altruism is present. Thus negative behaviors and attitudes are challenged and an expectation of reciprocal behavior that is positive, satisfying and productive begins to evolve. People become happy with their work and the possibility of collaboration and teamwork results in high performance of the organization. Goodness evolves within the organization.

An example of this goodness comes from the work of Katie Carman who studied charitable giving and payroll deductions for the United Way among 75,000 employees of a large American Bank that operated in 20 states. She found that when people were transferred from a location where fellow employees didn’t give much money compared to where they worked previously, they followed suit and decreased their giving at the new place of employment. The network of people management from the leader on down was not engaged and thus the level of “giving goodness” diminished. What Carman discovered and suggests from her findings is that the people management of altruistic norms (United Way giving) can have positive or negative impact on the pay it forward properties of altruism. I postulate that the same is true when applied to job satisfaction, employer engagement and workplace productivity.

Studies have further shown that altruism tends to spread and the benefits magnify. It seems that this is supported by the network that develops. It all starts with leadership and it seems to me that the environment and attitude of goodness is a rather painless investment to make. The payoff will be worth any discomfort.

“What makes us human – for good and for bad – is our social nature.” – Dan Ariely

“Happy people have two things in common, they know exactly what they want and they feel that they are moving toward getting it. This is what makes life feel good: when it has direction, when you are heading straight for what you love.” Barbara Sher

Rick Warren opens his book The Purpose Driven Life with a simple question “What on earth am I here for?” Do you have an inkling of the answer to that question for your life and your work? What do you love? Who do you love? Do you have a plan for how you will achieve the answers to these questions? Sadly, over the years I have worked with too many folks who don’t have answers to these questions; and as a result, they never seem able to reach their full potential personally or professionally. They simply don’t seem to have a plan, or as my daughter says sometimes, a clue, as to how reach the answers.

Having a plan, a purpose, a mission in life makes the journey as Helen Keller once said, “A wonderful adventure and glorious celebration.” On the other hand, she admonished, “Without that plan that journey will amount to nothing at all!”

So then what is your plan? Do you have a vision for the future? That vision should be a vision on steroids! Think big, you deserve the best, shoot for it. That vision of the future, if it is truly what you want will be the driving force for your actions. It will define your mission, your blueprint, on how to achieve that vision. Your mission will include: Who will help you achieve your vision? Who, besides yourself, will be served? The mission will also outline what you specifically intend to do and, even more specifically, state how you intend to do it.

What I often find in my work with clients is that even though they can identify their respective vision and mission blueprint those two documents are out of alignment with their core values. Ask yourself as you define your purpose, “What are your core values? What values drive your behavior on a day in day out basis?” These are the values you would sacrifice for; they are not the flavor of the day; they should number no more than five to eight. Too many core values, in my experience, equate to no values at all.

So there you have it. I have tried to give you the direction to create a mindset that will help you answer the question – “What is your personal and professional purpose in life?” I guarantee that when you know the answer to the questions I posed at the beginning of this blog you will find life much, much more meaningful, fulfilling and satisfying. You will make a difference and leave a legacy.

“If you don’t know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else.” Laurence Peter

As we enter the last quarter of the year it is time to think about molding your business to run more efficiently, effectively and consistently in the new year. Don’t let your business evolve haphazardly and reactively. Proactively shape it or re-shape it to improve your business for smoother operations, consistent customer satisfaction and profitable results. You must turn any chaos, confusion, and anarchy you have experienced in the past into order and discipline. It is time to standardize and document your business.

Challenge your old beliefs about how your business should work. It is never too early to shape or too late to re-shape your business. It doesn’t matter if your business is 20 years old, 2 years old, 2 months old or on the drawing board, start shaping the company to run without your being woven into the very fabric of the business. Design it to run without your supplying all the effort and energy. You cannot control everything, you cannot control everyone. Let go! Start behaving like a strategic business leader/owner.

You do not want to create merely a job for yourself. The ultimate goal of creating a business is to sell it one day, at the highest premium possible, to your employees, family members, or an outside buyer. You deserve an acceptable return on your investment of time, talent, and treasure.

No matter what size, age or industry, every business should be prepared to be sold. Yours is no different. This “start with the end in mind” strategy should help focus you on building an effective business model that doesn’t have you at the center of its universe, relying on your presence, personality and perspiration for its success. Keep this thought in mind, you should not be the business and the business should not be you. This work-in-reverse approach not only maximizes your selling price, but also minimizes your hassles and headaches while you own and run the business.

As stated earlier, your goal is to design or re-design your business to work without you. Your business model should be sculpted in such a way that it can be easily replicated dozens of times in cities around the country or world, requiring only your vision, not your physical presence and exertion. Whether you ever expand or not, such an ambition should help you focus on building a systems-dependent (not leader/owner-dependent or people-dependent) business that generates repeatable performance and consistent results. You must help others get results. Without other people, you don’t run a business — you work a job.

What is an effective business system? It is simply an integrated web of separate processes, procedures and policies. A business system allows you to get consistent results through other people – tremendous leverage and freedom! The business system is your documented instruction manual for “this is what and how we do it” at our company. Some typical operating processes are as follows:

Your business with such fully identified and explained processes will allow your employees to deliver amazing consistency. Employee discretion is minimized. Such a system will also free you from having to touch every transaction, make every decision, answer every question and solve every problem. You can manage by exception! Such a carefully crafted enterprise will also give you breathing space to think and act like a strategic business leader/owner as well as the time to do personal activities that matter most to you.

Without such a business system in place, no one will want to pay a premium for your broken business. They would not want to buy a dysfunctional business that is solely dependent upon you for its day-to-day operations and survival. If it were obvious that you are a prisoner to your business, why would anyone want to buy into such a life sentence? They would not or would pay very little for such a systems-deficient business. Please grasp this; no one wants to buy a job, a series of headaches, or a leader/owner-centered and dependent business.

To maximize your company’s eventual selling price, realize that buyers want to acquire a smoothly running, money-generating machine. Buyers want to purchase a business system that runs on near autopilot, foolproof status. They want to buy a fully documented, organized business system that gets predictable results. They want an asset that has proven processes, predictable revenue streams, and strong growth potential. They want to buy a well-designed, hassle-free, cash flowing asset.

The more of a turnkey, self-managing, self-improving system you develop, the greater the value to a potential buyer. If your business runs well without your being there every day, it will be worth gold to others. And until the day you sell, don’t you want to own and manage the same type of well-designed, well-orchestrated business?

“The conventional definition of management is getting work done through people, but real management is developing people through work.” -Agha Hasan Abedi

What one learns in school pales by comparison to real life people management. I have often said that people are the heart and soul of any organization. Your staff, colleagues, your people set you apart from the competition. Even management experts fail more than a few times before getting it right when it comes to motivating people and managing talents.

I have held senior leadership positions in education, health care and business.

I have advised, mediated and negotiated for organizations large and small internationally.

I now run my own business.

I don`t know everything, but I have made and seen plenty of mistakes. Here are some thoughts on the subject of people management for you to consider that will, hopefully, help you avoid costly people problems.

#1. Do your homework

This is really important. When hiring a new person, be clear regarding the job description and expectations. Define the formula for the employee’s success. Use the internet. Download some of the 100`s of examples. Cut, paste or craft one of your own.

I believe failing to do this homework is Number 1 in the Top 10 mistakes managers make.

#2. Hire for attitude, train for skills

If you can train someone to do the job in 2-3 days, then hire the person with the best attitude and train him/her! It is tough to un-train a skill/habit/behavior, especially when dealing with someone who already `knows’ how to do a job differently. So unless you are convinced their experience would benefit everyone, K.I.S.S. – use your established systems.

#3. The Gut’s got it – Go with your gut

You see a great resume, experience a great interview or hear and read some great references, but still as my granny used say, “have a bad taste in your mouth” or just “a funny feeling” about the candidate. What do you do? Reconsider the applicant, and unless there are some other mitigating factors, move on to the next candidate. Go with your gut.

If you‘re still not sure, interview them again; but as my old man used to say, “If it don’t feel right, it won’t fit. Don’t do it.”

#4. Personal and Organizational Systems should complement one another

Personal and organizational systems are essential foundation blocks for building success. It is the manager’s responsibility to align business goals and individual’s goals with the vision, mission and core values of the organization. This alignment can only be accomplished if the leadership of the organization makes certain that the operations and systems are also in alignment and that they support the achievement of the goals and the vision, mission and core values. If this alignment is not followed, individuals often tend to find a way to make a system work for their benefit not the company’s. If this happens, the manager is culpable, not the employee.

#5. If it is important, write it down

You might think, duh!, this is obvious; but I learned long ago that, too often, basic rules and plans are only verbalized. When you put something in writing it is incumbent to communicate clearly and succinctly. Remember, just because it is clear in your head, doesn`t mean the other person gets it. This is particularly important when you are not there to walk them through each step and provide guidance or interpretation in the training process. Think about it, there is no way a manager can always be available to guide and talk staff through all the steps of a process, procedure or policy.

#6. When in doubt, over communicate

If I had a nickel for every time I found communication at the heart of people problems, I would be a wealthy man. Wealthy enough I assure you, that I wouldn’t have to work.

There you have it. Six ideas to help you better manage your organization’s most valuable asset and investment – your people. Don’t sell yourself or your employees short.

I have decided to end this month on “Leadership Leverage” with a YouTube video that inspired and impressed me. I hope you will take the time to watch it and find it as good as I did!
I’d be interested to know how using the PRIME matrix that I described in the last blog has helped you. Please share your comments and suggestions.

“What chance gathers she easily scatters. A great person attracts great people and knows how to hold them together.” -Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

The theme for this month is “leadership leverage.” In today’s world no one man or woman can do it alone from their leadership chair. Simply put, today’s leaders must get the most out of the gifts, skills and abilities they have, at the same time realizing how they can best maximize the skills of those with whom they surround themselves.
That being said, I want to focus on the acronym PRIME. I urge you to utilize the matrix that accompanies the blog and journal the proactive actions you take over the next 2 to 4 weeks that optimize your leadership through leveraging those mutual gifts, skills, abilities, competencies and aptitudes that will make you more effective. To optimize your focus and energy I suggest that you take 5 minutes or so 2-3 times a day over the next couple of weeks to reflect on how you used your time to leverage your leadership. Using the cues in each cell of the PRIME matrix daily, jot down how you have leveraged the People, Resources, Ideas, Marketing and Execution tools you used, accessed or contacted to help you focus on the vital few strategic priorities that drive you toward success in your professional and personal life. At the end of each week summarize how you leveraged the power of PRIME to improve your effectiveness. Use the results of your summary to plan and prioritize your activities and actions for the coming week. At the end of the month compile your weekly summaries and look for the patterns of how you utilized your time and the impact it has had on achieving progress on the vital few strategic initiatives that you need to accomplish for success.
Download and print the Prime Worksheet.

This month’s theme is Strategic Selling. Today’s blog is about mindset and how to make it strategic. Consider some of the following ideas and think about how you might put them into practice.

To be successful at getting your current customers to spend more with you, you must increase the “perceived value” of what you offer. You must become more strategic and educate your customers so that they desire your products/services more than they currently do.

To make this happen, you must first increase your “self-esteem.” You must believe that you are different, better, special and highly valuable to your customers, even worth a premium price. You must fight the “I am a commodity” mindset with every fiber of your mind, body and soul. The day you believe you are in a commodity industry or business is the day you begin to die. If you are similar to your competitors, you must break out from the pack. For example, create an added presence to what you are offering. Think about taking your performance to a higher level, maybe offer a money-back satisfaction guarantee, provide on-going education seminars for your customers or consider packaging/bundling other products or services with yours. Dare to be different and more valuable.

Here are some other ideas to increase the average purchase size and frequency of your sales:

Up-sell. If your client/customer can achieve better results and greater satisfaction, educate them on buying a higher-end product/service. Do a better job of assessing their needs, matching products/services that will give your customers the optimal buying experience and satisfaction. You will increase your profits and customer fulfillment. Auto dealers are masters at getting customers to buy car models with the higher-end feature packages (i.e. leather interior, better stereos, etc.)

Cross-sell. If you have multiple product or service lines, communicate and educate your customers/clients on the full spectrum of your solutions – services, products and expertise. Continually ascertain your customers’ challenges/problems and match up with the other solutions you offer. CPA firms, for example, cross-sell their audit clients on tax and consulting services. Banks cross-sell their checking customers on investments, mortgages, lines of credit, credit cards, etc.

Bundle better. Consider packaging complementary products/services together. If a customer is going to buy a gas grill, for example, offer a complete package of cooking utensils, mesquite wood chips, barbecue book, grill cover and apron. By saving your customer’s time and helping them to buy a more “complete solution,” you can probably charge a premium for this “barbecue in the box” offering. At the very least, they will have bought more than they otherwise would have – you made buying easy.

Offer volume or frequent buyer discounts. If you can get your customers to buy more and buy more frequently, reward them with incentives, discounts, extra level of services, etc. Since you have maximized your cash flow, be willing to reward customers with a few extra perks. Bookstores and airlines have “frequent buyer” programs. In addition, video stores and coffee stores give you a free serving when you buy a certain number of times.

Offer other products/services that will complement what you already sell. Ask the question, “Who else sells something that goes before, after or along with my customer’s purchase?” For example, if you sell computer products, consider selling “technical needs analysis” services on the front-end or installation and computer training services on the back-end. Be sure it makes economic sense to add such services to your business.

Communicate with your customers often and give them buying ideas/solutions via mail, phone, email, newsletters, in-store displays, etc. For example, as fall approaches, a hardware store owner may use direct mail and in-store displays to communicate the need to seal coat and fill in cracks in driveways. The owner can sell customers on the benefits of taking action by packaging all the supplies together (sealant, crack filler, broom, gloves, removal cleaner, “how to” booklet, etc.) and offering a single-solution price.

Conduct special events to educate your existing customers on additional service/product offerings. Do this in an informative manner and in a way that has “their best interests” at heart. Hold a “sneak preview” for your new products, services, models, etc. Hold exclusive events for your best customers. An upscale luxury auto dealer might hold a wine and cheese party with a musical quartet to unveil the newest car models.

Endorse other people’s products or services to your client list and get a cut of the action. For example, if you are an upscale jewelry store, consider offering elaborate vacation packages to your customers via an upscale travel agency. Mail offers to your customer database, endorse the travel agency and their offering, and receive a set percentage of any revenues generated. Instead of adding computer training to your computer store, form an alliance with a reputable training company and negotiate for a “cut of the action” for introducing/endorsing them to your customers via email, direct mail, telemarketing, etc. To maintain the goodwill of your customers, make sure you do your “due diligence” and introduce only high-trust, high-integrity and high-value organizations to your customer base.

Don’t attempt to do all of these at once. Simply consider one, two or even three of these practices, focus your energy and make a specific implementation plan. Give it time to work. Monitor and evaluate the process of how the approach evolves and make sure you don’t give up on them too early in the game. Don’t hesitate to email or call if you have questions. Good luck!

“In NASA, we never punish error. We only punish the concealment of error.” – Al Siepert

There is opportunity in every failure. When we fail we are given a chance to turn negative experiences into new, positive learning lessons. A good project manager will celebrate the lessons learned in the evolution process of a project. Oscar Wilde once said “experience is the name every smart man gives a mistake.” Keep track of your team’s learning and what they learned from their mistakes. While it is not of any value to beat people up or down for their errors, there is no value in repeating an error over and over again. As you celebrate the lessons learned from failures remember not to allow the same mistakes to happen again.

We have all heard of “limiting beliefs,” those fears, uncertainties, doubts and suspicions that form and foment primarily between our ears. One of the biggest FUDS that plague people is the fear of failure, of being wrong, criticized or made fun of. In addition, a perceived loss of credibility and competence often seems to hang around the neck of those who make mistakes. The effective project manager will never punish mistakes amongst team members. If punishment is the rule of the manager, the team will become mediocre. That’s right; the team will be in danger of safe, comfortable, mediocrity. There will be no risks taken, no creative visions and no “what ifs” to be investigated. The phrase “trial and error” is important to remember and even more important for the project manager to encourage and grow within the team.

One of my clients has monthly celebrations of failure where his company’s entire workforce is brought together and failures are shared. The company’s best failures of that month are rewarded. That’s right—rewarded. Here is the catch; employees are rewarded for the best lesson(s) learned. At the end of the year the monthly failure awards are put together and the workforce votes on the “Failure of the Year” – the best lesson learned. The result? People know what not to do, they learn from one another and they don’t waste time worrying about what others will say or think. The real payoff is that employees are more productive, morale is high and the company is extremely successful.

I challenge you to celebrate failure and the lessons learned. You won’t be disappointed.

“I have witnessed boards that continued to waste money on doomed projects because no one was prepared to admit they were failures, take the blame and switch course. Smaller outfits are more willing to admit mistakes and dump bad ideas.” –Luke Johnson

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